


Offer Up Your Innocence, Please Ignore The Side Effects

by Restekel



Category: The Last Kids on Earth (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Dialogue Heavy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, End of the World, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jack Needs a Hug, Team as Family, Tears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:47:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27789970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Restekel/pseuds/Restekel
Summary: Jack shows up at Quints house in the middle of the night covered in bruises and questioning his worth.A pre-apocalypse fic.
Relationships: Quint Baker & Jack Sullivan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 32





	Offer Up Your Innocence, Please Ignore The Side Effects

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is based off of a sentence from 'If It Was Going To Kill You Boy, It Would Have By Now' I wanted to divulge on the night that Jack showed up at Quints house. You can read both together or have this as a stand alone.

Quint had been working on his latest project, a bottle rocket launcher. It was just about complete, enough that he would be able to show his best friend in a few days if he worked hard enough. 

Speaking of his best friend, it was completely unusual for him to be standing at Quint's door debating to ring the doorbell. Jack was known for popping by without telling Quint, but what made this so odd was that it was ten at night. 

Quint made his way to the door, he realized his friend was walking away as he opened the door.

"Jack?" The boy in question spun around with a startle, looking at Quint with wild eyes as if he were a spooked animal. Casting his vision downward to cover his face with his hood once he realized who it was. "Are you alright friend?" 

"Oh! Yea! Definitely!" Jack sputtered out, moving backwards presumedly trying to leave.

"Jack, buddy, you can talk to me." Quint stepped over to his friend, placing his hand on Jacks shoulder to ground him. "Are you ok?"

Jack shook his head, still looking at the ground. Quint gasped at the tears splattering against the concrete below them.

"They-They're kicking me out." 

"Isn't that good though? You can finally get away from them." Quint knew about how the Robinsons mistreated Jack, and was glad that his friend could possibly move somewhere better.

Quint fumed as Jacks eyes lifted to meet his, they were bloodshot from crying. The thing that stood out the most was the black bruise adorning one of his eyes, close to being swollen shut. He looked as if he had been in a wrestling match with someone with claws with how many cuts were along his cheeks and lips. "Jack." 

"My caseworker showed up. But only after- after Mrs. Robinson." Jack muttered, pausing to let out another sob.

"Come here." Quint opened his arms as an invitation for a hug, Jack all but fell into the embrace, holding onto Quint as if he was a life line.

"I only broke a glass." 

"Oh." Quint gripped Jack tighter, feeling his heart clutch while his friend broke down in his arms. 

"She's- She's sending me away Quint." 

"Away from the Robinsons?" Quint asked hopefully.

"Away from Wakefield." Jack sniffled, still not letting Quint go, as if Quint would allow him. "It means we won't see each other anymore." 

Quint's breath hitched at the thought of not being able to hang out with his friend every day, he rejoiced at the fact that he was no longer with the Robinsons, but teared up at the possibility o closing his friend.

"I've got two weeks..." Jack spoke up, pulling Quint out of his thoughts.

Jack pulled back out of the hug to wipe his tears, Quint could see all the hurt and abandonment within his eyes. He pulled his distraught friend over to the porch to sit on the stairs, Jack looked as if he needed to curl up. 

Knowing his friends mannerisms Quint watched Jack pull his knees to his chest the moment they sat, he smiled sadly at the comfort it always brought Jack. 

"I don't want to leave Wakefield... I like it here." Jack thought out loud, Quint glanced over to see him playing with a loose thread on his shirt. "Even if the Robinsons were always crud, it meant I had a friend."

"Wait, Jack... Do you think that if you leave you'll lose me as a friend?" Quint asked, placing his hand back upon Jacks arm. 

Jack nodded at the question, turning his head away from Quint.

"Jack. I'm not ditching you no matter how far you are, I refuse to think of a future where we aren't friends anymore." Jack chuckled, looking over at Quint with hope in his eyes. 

"Really?"

"Of course! You're my best friend in the entire world, we'll find a way to keep in touch. We could always use the walkie's."

Jack leaned against Quint at the words of encouragement. Both of them sitting in silence contemplating the nights events. 

Quint gasped as he remembered the rough shape his friend showed up in. "Jack! Do you need medical attention at all? I could grab my parents and get you to a doctor."

Jack sat straight as a pole at the question, standing up and waving his hands in a panicked motion. "NO! The Robinsons... They- they don't know I left." Jack began to hyperventilate. "Please don't tell your parents. They would tell the- the Robinsons, I can't- I can't let them know." He pulled at his hair as his distress increased, Quint could almost see the bags form under his eyes.

Quint immediately stood, grabbing onto his friends hand to stop him from causing harm to himself. "Ok, don't worry friend, they won't know." Jack looked into Quint's eyes for a lie. "They won't know." He repeated to let Jack know that his request was going to be honoured. Jack calmed at the words, Quint could feel his hands relax within his grasp.

"What am I going to do Quint?" Jack dropped to his knees, Quint followed along, wrapping his arms around his friend he could feel Jacks shuttering breath beneath his hands.

"I-I don't know... I don't want you to leave." Quint admitted, the truth of the situation hitting him at the defeated tone of his friend.

Jack wiped his swollen eye with the back of his hand, flinching at the throb of the bruise. He sighed, deflating in Quint's arms. Quint could tell that his friend was in his own mind, thinking about everything and anything all at the same time.

"They never wanted me." 

"They were jerks."

"Why do all my foster families keep giving me away as if I was some- some." Jack screamed into Quints chest. It was a raw sound of emotional hurt that chilled Quint to the bone. "I- Im never going to have a family, Im going to be passed from- from house to- to house until the system gives up on me."

Quint couldn't relate to his friend, he had two wonderful parents who loved him very much. But from what he could see, the foster system wore down his friend every time he had to move. This was why Jack was cautious to become his friend in the first place, he knew he couldn't make any meaningful connections because of how much he lost each time.

"Why does nobody want me?" 

Quint stilled at the question, pulling his friend up to look him in the eyes. "No. Those families that abandoned you don't get to have a say in how you feel. I want you friend, I don't know what I'm going to do when you leave, but what I do know is that I am going to be counting down the days until I get to see you again." Quint paused his rant to take a breath. "And who knows, maybe your next family will actually give a shit." 

"Thanks buddy." Jack smiled sadly, fresh tears spilling from his eyes. "I'm going to miss you so much."

"Ditto, and I will call everyday, it won't be the same... but it's something."

Jacks watch beeped startling the both of them, he blanched as he looked at the time. "Crap! I've got to go, The Robinsons are going to figure out I left if-if I don't get back soon." He immediately stood, Quint following.

Before Jack could run off Quint pulled him into one more hug. "Stay safe friend."

"Thanks Quint." Jack returned the hug, basking in the moment for as long as he could.

"Im not letting these next two weeks go to waste, we're going to have the best time."

Jack laughed at his friends words. They pulled apart before Jack ran off into the night.

Quint walked back into his house, dread creeping through his veins at the thought of his friend returning to the Robinsons.

"You'll find a family, I promise." Quint thought as he shut the door of his room.

**Author's Note:**

> And then the apocalypse happened and Jack found a family within his team.
> 
> Thanks for reading! I hope y'all enjoyed my shameless angst fest.
> 
> I need way more of Jacks past, I really hope that the author goes into that at one point of the plot. 
> 
> Also another thing I noticed when looking through the credits of the Last Kids on Earth is that the radio voice and the shadow mother share the same voice (She only voices the two "Characters") Coincidence?


End file.
